Answer: When it’s a “technical hold”
As mentioned yesterday, KHI has issued a “technical hold” on the new ZX10-R. The effect of this is that Kawasaki dealers will be returning all unsold ZX-10R sportbikes to Kawasaki’s warehouses, and all sold units to customers will be bought back with a full refund.
Now I’ve heard of lots of factory recalls in my time, where units are returned to a dealer to have some issue dealt with, but this goes WAY beyond this. ALL bikes, unsold AND sold are to be returned, with the factory BUYING back at full price any bikes so far sold with no word as to when the “technical hold” will be lifted or when, or indeed, IF, owners will get a bike back.
The internet is awash with speculation as to the reason for this diabolical action, most suggesting that the bikes already sold have already suffered premature piston wear, related, it is suspected, to oil starvation when the bike is heeled over. If this is the case it does make you wonder how the model could have got through the protracted testing and evaluation programme we know that it did without having this glaring deficiency make itself obvious.
Given that Kawasaki engines, going right back to the Z1, have been regardless as bulletproof, this is a massive hit to the Big K’s credibility. I suspect that many ZX10-R owners won’t be hanging around waiting for the issues to be resolved. They’ll be off to their nearest Honda/Suzuki/Yamaha/Ducati dealership and plumping down their dollars on something that isn’t green. This is a bloody nose from which Kawasaki, the smallest and most vulnerable of the Japanese manufacturers, might never recover.
AND, where does this leave their racing programme? I don’t know the exact rules, but there surely must be a rule somewhere in the WSBK regulations that states that, by a certain date, “X” number of units must be sold in order for the bike to be homologated. How is the recall, sorry, “technical hold” going to affect this? Given that 2011 was going to be Kawasaki’s biggest investment in racing for many, many years, this could also be a body-blow to their racing programme and also to WSBK.
I suspect that this story is going to drag on for some time, and, here’s another question. In litigation-mad America, how long will it be before we hear of disaffected owners who have had to surrender their brand new pride and joy suing KHI over the issue? It will happen, be assured.
